In fact, noted economist and author Richard Florida has made a career studying the theory. Florida first wrote about the “Nashville effect” in 2009, when he noted Nashville has more musicians per capita than any other city and had one of the highest job growth rates.

Florida — and Nashville — took the theory to new heights this year. He spoke about the theory at the chamber’s annual meeting, and Nashville jumped 11 spots, to No. 8, on this year’s Travel + Leisure list.

“It encourages new thinking and diversity, which I think is incredibly important to growing the ecosystem,” local entrepreneur Mark Montgomery said of the importance of young, creative types to the economy. “Creatives just tend to see the world differently.”

Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is giving the health care and music industries a run for their money when it comes to Nashville’s largest business sector. At least, that’s what it felt like this year.

From the launch of new incubator programs like Healthbox to the continued success of established programs at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and Jumpstart Foundry, local entrepreneurs had new opportunities and platforms to impress and woo investors this year.

And the investor community responded. Thanks to local venture capital and private equity groups, entrepreneurs had more access to angel funding than in years past. LaunchTN, the statewide program to foster entrepreneurship, launched The Tenn competition to identify and assist the top 10 startup companies graduating from the state’s regional accelerators.

“It was a great year for entrepreneurs,” said Vic Gatto, a partner at Solidus Capital Partners and managing director at Jumpstart Foundry. “It’s been a building process over the last, maybe, five years. We have had a series of momentum-building things around entrepreneurship that you are seeing now.”

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.